Camera type #4: Compact Cameras

The final category of Cameras for today are Compact Cameras.

These are probably the most commonly seen and used cameras on the market and have been developed and made to fit in your pocket and take decent pictures quickly and on demand. They are there to do point and shoot and tend to be good at that, but there are some differences especially between the advanced compact cameras, which are really just slightly more expensive but much better quality compacts.

So now it depends what you want your camera to do. Does it need to just turn on quickly and take a picture, or do you want to be able to set your shutter speed or your ISO manually? There is also the choice of having wifi, or even 3G, or if you use your camera mainly to take pictures to send to your work, or friends or facebook, then you might wnat to go with a SMART camera. SMART is a system developed by Samsung, and means you can connect to your email address, your facebook or other social media profile from your camera, and upload your pictures straight from there, with no need for conneting to your computer first. You can also use your phone as a remote control or stream straight to a SMART TV or backup directly to your computer or Cloud.

So here there isn't really any recommendation I could make in general, because it always depends on what you want to use your camera for.

Any Questions or Comments?

Camera type #3: CSC

The third kind of camera is a compact System Camera, or short, CSC. 

These cameras are the exact opposite of Bridge cameras, because they consists of the body of a compact camera, but have several interchangeable lenses.

These cameras can be of quite a good quality, but since they have the same problem as the DSLR's, of having a high original price and you needing to buy several lenses of you want to be able to zoom in closely or have a wide angle, since the lenses that come with them tend to have an even smaller range than the ones on DSLR's (14-42 on CSC, 18-55 on DSLR). And because the CSC's are a much newer invention than the DSLR's, there isn't a wide range of lenses available so far.

For this reason, and a few more, that would probably be too technical for this Post, I would not recommend a Compact System Camera to almost anyone.

Any Question or Comments?

Camera type #2: Bridge

The second kind of Camera that we will be talking about now are Bridge cameras, which consist of the body of a DSLR, but have a non-detachable lens like a Compact camera. 

There are some very good Bridge cameras, like for example the Canon SX50HS, which has a 50x optical zoom and a highspeed shutter, but these cameras are already in the same price class as a DSLR camera and what you buy with those is what you get, there is no way of changing the lens it you wanted something better at a later point. There are less expensive Bridge cameras of course, but most of the time you would be better off, and get better results in getting an advanced digital compact camera. But if you are a hobby photographer and just need a decent camera, which you only want to spend money on once and then get results, then a bridge is something for you.

Any Questions or Comments?

Photography Competition!

How do you feel about a little competition? If you want your pictures published on this Blog, why not send them to us and we will decide which 5 are the best ones and will publish one every day for a week.

Last chance to submit will be the 21st of April, and we will start publishing on the 22nd!

Don't miss your chance!

Camera type #1: DSLR

Let's start our education about the different kinds of Camera's!

If you are taking a photography course or just wanting to get into it professionally, then the camera you want to go with is a Digital Single Lens Reflection Camera, or short DSLR.

This is a very nice choice, because it lets you set all the lighting and focal lengths yourself, enabling you to force the camera to do anything you want!

However, the downside of such a camera is, that it takes quite a bit of investment, because the camera itself is already between 300-600 pounds for a beginners or intermediate one, and much more for the professional cameras such as the Nikon D800 or the Canon 5D MKIII.

Another downside is that the lens that comes with the camera is not good when it comes to zooming or wide angle, so you would need to invest even more money and buy yourself other lenses, more fit for your purpose. This is expensive, but it also allows you to customize your camera to your purpose

Any Questions or Comments?

What you need to get started!

Thinking about getting into Photography? Don't know where to start?

This is why we have compiled a list here of everything you might need to start taking great shots!

Starting with your camera, there is a wide range of models to choose from, but first you need to decide what kind of camera it is you want. We will be posting about all the different kinds of cameras later on, so for now we will be focusing on the accessories!

Let's start with memory cards.

What most people are not aware of is that there is more of a difference between the different memory cards than just how many GB they have. They are classed in 3 different category's, class 4, class 6 and class 10.

Class 4 memory cards are not able to save pictures of a very high quality, so they are mainly used for compact cameras and tend not to go over 32 GB in size and approx. 10MB/s speed.

Class 6 memory cards are substantially better with the quality they can save, going up to 32GB again, they can be used for advanced compacts, Bridges and even DSLR's. They are usually between 15-20MB/s in speed.

Class 10 Memory Cards are what you should use for Professional DSLR's, or other SLR's and other camera if you are planning on taking Videos with them. They are capable of saving the highest quality of pictures and have the highest speed, which is usually around 30MB/s, but can go up to 95MB/s with the professional ranges.

Of course there are different formats of SD Cards, for example micro SD or Flash memory cards. Micro SD cards are used in some compact cameras and have the same classing system as the full size SD Cards. Flash memory cards tend to be used in Professional SLR's like the Canon 5D. These are much more expensive than normal SD cards, but have a much better quality and longer life as well.

Moving on to Camera Bags.

Having a bag for your camera is more important than you might think. Most people buy a bag if they have a SLR camera, but think it's not necessary for compact cameras because they will just put them in their pocket or their handbag and then it's fine. But this is exactly the reason why you need to have a bag for the camera, because when you put a camera in your pocket, it comes in contact with dirt, lint or if it's in a handbag, there could be keys, or make-up, many thing that can scratch your camera, or even worse your lens, because the lens cover on any camera is not very sturdy and can be opened or broken very easily. And if this happens and you get something into your lens or sensor and scratch it, then you can pretty much buy a new camera straight away, because repairing a camera is expensive, sometimes more expensive than buying a new one.

Now let's talk about lenses.

The only cameras you might need extra lenses for are DSLR's or CSC's, but more about the camera types later.

There are different kinds of lenses, telephoto lenses, which are really just zoom lenses, there are wide angle lenses which let you take in more of a picture, and portrait lenses which can't zoom, but have a lower aperture, so you can focus on only one smaller area and blur out the rest of the picture.

Have you considered getting a tripod?

Depending on what kind of Photography you do, a tripod might be vital. No matter if it's Portrait photography, Landscape photography or long exposure, all of these you might not be able to do without a tripod, because holding the camera still enough for as long as it can take to get the right shot for these kinds of photography, might be hard for you to do, if not impossible.

There are different kinds of tripods, there are the full sized ones, which you can move in any direction and which will stay on any ground, but then there's also smaller ones, made specifically for compact cameras or smaller ones for the DSLR's that are easier to carry with you.

There are many other accessories that you could get with your camera, such as filters, cleaning products (which are very important and any photographer should always keep in their bag), flash guns, soft boxes and so on, but these are going to be explained in much more detail within the next few weeks, as will the ones we have mentioned above, only in a slightly more advanced manner.

So we hope we have answered all your initial questions, and if there is any that you still have, send us an email or just comment below or on facebook or twitter!

Day out in Edinburgh

Looking for something to do in Edinburgh? Why not spend an afternoon at the Stills, Scotlands Centre for Photography.

The Gallery is open seven days a week from 11am to 6pm, and if you want to find something to do over the weekend, why not take one of their many courses in Digital photography and Photo-editing?

For more information and details of where to find them, here's a link to their website!

Photo-editing

Some photographers are debating whether or not it is acceptable to edit pictures post-production, or if that is not something they should be allowed to do because it means that they are now no longer showing the truth.

But where would you draw the line? Would you say making a picture black and white is acceptable? And how about changing the colour to something else entirely, for example if you have a field of red flowers and you decide it would look better if the flowers were yellow. Of course it is no problem to do that afterwards, but would it not lead to you lying to everybody that saw the picture afterwards?

I have included a link to a post in the guardian where their photographer was talking about the same problem, and how he is experiencing it.

If you want to leave your opinion, comment beow!

Photographers Profile #2: Zanele Muhol

Zanele Muhol is an African American photographer, who has been known for her photography of African women and sexuality in Africa since 2002, when her pictures were first exhibited at the Woman's art festival in Knysna.

Since then she has won several awards for her pictures, including the Tollman Award and the LGBTI Art & Culture Award in 2005 and the Jean-Paul Blachere award, Les Rencontres de Bamako biennial of African photography, the Casa Africa award for the best female photographer, Les Rencontres de Bamako biennial of African photography and the Fanny Ann Eddy accolade by the International Resource Network in Africa (IRN-Africa) in 2009.

Only very recently, she got awarded a freedom of expression prize at the index on censorship awards in London.

Click here to see some of her pictures and to read a more detailed biography of this impressive female Photographer!

Get all the Equipment you've always wanted, and could never afford!

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